Change is happening all the time.  For many it can be a transformative process that is ongoing for a long duration and sometimes it is quick and immediate but may have long lasting impacts. In project or business terms a successful change means that employees are able to adapt to and work effectively with the new technology or in the new environment, and the change is now embedded in the organization as business as usual. If the change is not monitored and reinforcement on a regular and ongoing basis there will be a preference to revert to the ‘old way’ and the change will not deliver the intended business value. There are six primary reasons why the reinforcement of changes, after a project ends, does not happen or is not done well: Lack of proper Sponsorship or Governance post-Launch Leadership and Management are not properly armed; They lack skillset or information to drive behaviour change Uncertainty of roles, owners, or what is to be Reinforced – i.e. Silo’d business functions regardless of enterprise implementation Poorly understood business benefits and business case Project expertise – including the Sponsor – is heavily focused on project delivery rather than ongoing business operations Not enough foresight and planning for knowledge management or training support But with proper planning and oversight change reinforcement can be systematic, measurable, and successful. “Reinforcement is critical to the success of all initiatives because people have a natural tendency to revert back to what they know and are comfortable with.” – Prosci Reinforcement is the fifth and final building block in the Prosci ADKAR® (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement) Change Management model. All the stages or building blocks of ADKAR are equally important; however, Reinforcement is often the least likely to be planned and implemented as part of the overall project delivery strategy, because it is often not clear who is responsible for it or when it should begin. It is crucial to plan and be ready to execute the reinforcement activities to help embed the changes; the timing and nature of these activities will vary but ongoing communication, governance and support between staff and management is essential. I recently had discussions with some former clients as well as a Project Managers and Change and Learning professionals where I asked five questions to get their thoughts on Reinforcement. The responses below are a compilation of all the discussions: What are some key things required to reinforce behaviour change (how do we get it to stick)? Reminders are important.  Continually reminding stakeholder that a change is coming, what the change is, why it is happening etc. Validation is also important and effective. Generally, just checking in with people, asking them how they feel and getting a sense for what they know and understand. Recognizing that people had questions, feelings and fears and allowing them to voice them or giving them a controlled outlet to express their feelings makes them feel heard and helps them move on. When this is done during a change, it makes a big difference in peoples’ perceptions but also their willingness to change and continue doing things the new way. Evidence is key. People are skeptical. Being able to show them that something works or is better, is important. Not just through anecdotal “best practice” or some benchmark report, but real tangible proof from within their organization, from their peers. Running a pilot group can make this possible showing that change worked here, with their peers. Leadership involvement but more specific, leaders as champions. Negative comments or apathetic behaviour from the leadership team is a killer.  Not only will people resist the change, but building the behaviours to reinforce the new way of working is almost impossible. The Leadership team is also going through a change, so they too need to be engaged and supported so that they can put their best face forward and be champions for the change and their people. Being able to tie the change back to a business case or business benefits. Many projects start to deviate or wander from the original plan or purpose. Changes in sponsor or key stakeholders can impact the purpose and direction. If we are unable to connect the change to something tangible, we will lose our credibility and ultimately lose user buy-in and adoption. At that point, it is impossible to reinforce new positive behviours because the purpose of the change was not understood. Do different Stakeholders need different reinforcement models or activities? Yes, one-size does not fit all. For example, customer facing employees will need to learn different behaviours and will need different reinforcement tactics than administrative or internal employees. Both are equally important but need very different things to succeed. It is also important to recognize and provide reinforcement tactics to both groups or teams as well as individuals. In fact, most change happens at the individual level. What if people are not performing in the new way, should there be consequences? Bad, disruptive or incorrect behaviour needs to be corrected, quickly. When possible, the correction should be done in a positive and supportive manner, but there are situations when the consequence of not changing needs to be severe, even to the point of being fired.  Of course, if there is a good reinforcement plan in place, and the proper coaching and support is employed, someone losing their job should be a rare and extreme occurrence. That is a great point, “…if there is a good reinforcement plan in place…”;when should Reinforcement start? At the beginning! Reinforcement should be planned at the early stages of project planning. The Sponsor and the leadership team need to start it right away – model the new behaviours as much as possible from the beginning.  Planning for reinforcement at the beginning also helps determine who will be accountable for it once the project ends and the project team leaves. Knowing this up-front means the project can engage with them early on, so the reinforcement activities are not just dumped on the business at the end of the project. Should Reinforcement be measured? Peter Drucker said something like, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Having good KPIs and metrics through all stages of change is important and should not be ignored during the monitoring/reinforcement/sustainment stage. Monitoring the use of a new technology you can measure if the new process is being followed and even identify the business units or individuals who are not following the process. There were some very tangible things that can be measured for a business change project like moving form a traditional office to a flexible workplace, like desk utilization, number of people booking a desk in the booking system, number of Auto-bumps etc. Being able to measure the productivity against historical data helps provide support to individuals who were struggling with the change in process or even physical location. For example, when the change is a move form a traditional office space to a flexible workplace where people work at different desk locations, open concept collaboration tables or even at home offices, it was expected that the first couple of weeks there might be a decrease in productivity for some individuals or even business units but that should level out and eventually productivity will again increase. Measuring productivity can even identify issues in other areas of the business, beyond the project scope, such as with connectivity technology which could provide information to get employees the support they needed and indirectly support adoption and reinforce the new behaviour. Change is an ongoing process and as one Executive so wisely pointed out, the measurement of key milestones is not the primary determinant of success in a change management initiative. A successful change means that employees can adapt to and work effectively in the new environment and the change is embedded in the organization as usual practice; reinforcing and sustaining the change is the most crucial step to successful change management. If an organization is going to invest time and money in implementing a change doesn’t it just make business sense to ensure the change sticks?

“A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning. “ – Brad Henry In our job as learning (and change) professionals we are sought after to provide expertise on learning in general as well as supporting the changes in employee behaviours through learning. We are good at it. We have built our whole careers around it. Learning is what we do. But how does the learning (and change) professional continue their learning? We too need to continue to learn, to expand our minds and thoughts—so that we can provide our clients the best possible advice, knowledge, and work output possible. I am an avid reader, podcast listener, Ted Talk watcher, and overall observer of people. I love to passively learn. But sometimes even learning professionals need to take time to go and be active participants in learning. In May of this year, myself and a couple other Harbingers attended the 75th annual ATD National conference in San Diego. This was my first national conference and I can say it was one-hundred percent worth my time. The ATD National conference is all about training and learning, which of course includes change management, because you cannot learn without some kind of change happening, and all change leads to learning, whether we are aware of it or not. I attended 13 sessions over the 4 days. My colleagues who also attended the conference also attended many sessions, all of us doing our best to attend different sessions so that we could learn as much as possible and share our newfound information with each other! Some of the biggest takeaways for me was around micro-learning, telling compelling stories with data, and my favourite topic, the psychology of learning. Micro-Learning: I went in to the conference all excited about Micro-Learning, as if it was this new, shiny thing. The reality is it is not new at all; we have been developing and delivering micro-learning for years now. We have been breaking down learning into small, quick, and easy to access formats on a regular basis. The increased use of video does put a new feeling to it, but really the use of quick reference guides, work instructions, and animated or voice-over videos are already part of our learning offerings. What was reinforced for me during the micro-learning sessions was: If micro-learning is part of the approach—great! But it deserves to be thought through and planned the same as conventional learning Each micro-session must achieve a discrete and specific outcome—it is not a building block onto other activities. It is not “chunking.” There is no specific duration! We often hear things like “micro-learning should be ‘x’ seconds long.” The reality is, while these lessons should be short (i.e. micro), it also needs to complete or achieve a specific outcome (see above bullet) Micro-Learning is not about technology. While some micro-learning sessions are better delivered via technology such as augmented or virtual reality, or video, it does not need to rely heavily on technology platforms to be effective (e.g. quick reference guides or work instructions are often adequate) Have a clear intention for the learning; is it spaced learning or learning reinforcement / learning support (see first bullet re: planning) Data: What can I say. Some people love it, some do not. But it is often important when we are trying to convince, sell or improve. So how do we present data so that it is interesting, compelling and not horrifyingly dull? I have often struggled with this and try to avoid using it for fear that my audience’s eyes will glaze over due to the dullness of what I am presenting. But I learned that data does not need to be dull or scary. It can be captivating and thought-provoking when presented right. My goal for continued future learning is to continue perfecting story telling through data. Learner Psychology: One session I attended really stuck with me. It was about learner myths, superstitions, and misconceptions. Over the years many books, articles, and even past leaders whom I worked for have taught that people have different learning styles and that we need to cater to them, but this session made me rethink this belief. The big takeaways from this session include: We should adapt learning to the goal of the learning outcome, and not that of the learner. As a Change Manager and learning professional I believe the primary goal of any training or learning session is to change behaviour, so this myth that learners have different learning styles really resonated with me. Or at least made me rethink how I will approach learning programs in the future. Training should help the learner focus on the right things—this is so obvious—especially for ERP or other technology training but can be applied to soft-skills learning too. Problem based learning leads to better long-term memory.  This is not always easy to create, especially when training a new technology system, but should be when possible. If you want to learn more about Learning Myths, Misconceptions and Superstitions, read Clark Quinn’s book Millennials, Goldfish & Other Training Misconceptions, or check out his blog LEARNLETS. None of these points were actually “aha” moments, but rather, good reminders. Another interesting takeaway is that motivation is a personal choice. Often, if we fail to achieve the preferred level of change or change buy-in, it is due to a lack of desire or motivation by the stakeholder. As a change manager I have worked tirelessly to help increase a stakeholder’s desire for the change but if they are not motivated how will they have desire for it? And who am I to motivate them? This point above all really stuck with me. For more great content on Motivation and Leadership and ditching the Drama, check out Cy Wakeman’s YouTube channel or follow her on Instagram. By the end of my 4 days in San Diego, I felt invigorated and inspired. I learned that I too, a professional learning professional, needs to participate in active learning where there is new, refresher, and even controversial or thought-provoking content. I feel what I learned/refreshed makes me a better consultant, so I will serve our clients even better than before. I will continue to read books, listen to podcasts and watch Ted Talks, but attending the ATD National Conference reminded me that this learning professional can always benefit from some formal learning as well. Next week, some of my learning colleagues will be attending the Institute for Performance and Learning (I4PL) conference here in Toronto. I will be interested to hear about their experiences and any ah-ha moments they take away from the sessions. Perhaps, they will even be so generous as to blog about it.

Lessons from 168 Hours—You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam A short while before a recent vacation, one of my mentors suggested I improve my time management and task management skills. Naturally, at first, I balked at the idea. So, there I was in the Himalayas, where time stood still, reading up on time management. Took a few moments to laugh at myself, and life. The book I was reading up on those mountains was 168 Hours – You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam. It came with a disclaimer not to be the solution to all my woes, and refused to exclusively be earmarked a self help or project management book. It did delve right into rich examples, stories, of individuals who lived the lives they wanted to without the stress that many of us carry around. The first realization came as the truth that everyone – everyone – on this Earth has 168 hours per week to live, function, love, and play. No exceptions. Some people do have less control over their time, such as those who lack basic human rights or live in impoverished or threatening circumstances; but this probably is not the case for most of us. What is the myth of the time crunch? That we don’t have time to do the things we want or need to do. Take in this fact: according to Vanderkam’s research, the average person claiming to work 70 hours per week, when tracking her/his time, logs roughly 52 hours per week. Hm… This self misrepresentation combines, much to our detriment, with the collective association of workaholism, success, and what it takes to “be a winner.” Looking back to my last project go-live, I worked truly full days. No idle time, no non-working lunches, and what seemed like around the clock amounted to between 12 and 14 hours per day. Even then I was “only” in the region of 60 hours per week. Very, very few people work as much as they might claim or believe. You might think, “What about the rest of our time? Being busy prevents having time for areas like family, leisure, learning, and health.” It doesn’t have to be the case. Have a look at a “somebody’s life”: Somebody’s Life (Hours / week) Work - 50 Commuting - 14 (2/day) Family time - 21 (3/day) Sleeping - 56 (8/day) Groceries - 5 Cooking - 5 Household chores - 1 Total =  126 “Left-Over” =  32 What would you do with 32 hours per week? Below is a more realistic example. There’s no such thing as a typical week, but I felt there might be value in an average. Here are two weeks in my life, right after my vacation: Average hours / week Work - 40.38 Development - 29.63 Meetings - 6.25 Email - 4.5 Reading - 5.5 Household - 4 Commute - 4.75 Leisure / Socialize - 36.63 Sleep - 54.5 Exercise - 8 One-on-one with loved ones - 14 Television - 3 A slough of useful data jumps out right away, which is great, and exactly the point of keeping a time log. For example, although these weeks were low-ball outliers for meetings and email, the project culture at my current client does not suffer from meeting redundancy. The real kicker though is how much leisure I have outside of quality one-on-one time. 168 hours is a ton of time, and so are 37 hours of relaxing and fun. Reducing that by 10 hours per week would open a whole range of possibilities. Parting words from 168 Hours: “When you say ‘I don’t have time,’ this puts the responsibility on someone else: a boss, a client, a family member. Or else it puts the responsibility on some nebulous force: capitalism, society, the monster under the bed.” If you were to keep a time log, would there be areas you might be happy to cut down on? Could that time be put towards achieving your goals and dreams? Get started: https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/welcome-168-hours-time-tracking-challenge/

Five Ways Change Management and Learning Can Increase Business Benefits and ROI During Your ERP Implementation ERPs integrate data, streamline technology and align business processes. But implementing an ERP is a huge undertaking and can be risky because there are many pieces to be considered and if ignored the chance of failure increases.  Many of the technical risks are foreseen and planned for but often it’s the human factor that is missed or flat-out ignored which can increase the risk of failure or at the very least greatly reduce your business benefits and ROI. To help you plan for your ERP implementation, here are some common things to consider and include: 1. Your Organization’s Readiness to Adopt Change A lot of thought and planning goes into ensuring the new software will work with your infrastructure and that it can be scaled for growth. However, what is often overlooked is, if users can be ready for the change and will they accept the new system? There are many reasons why users may not buy-in to using the ERP solution – some reasons could be: An absence of awareness or misunderstanding regarding the need for the change Lack of visible support from the leadership team The user interface is not seen as friendly The training provided was not well planned or tailored to the needs of the user Missing the ‘what’s in it for me’ factor To be successful, organizations need to: Understand clearly what they are trying to achieve Identify the key change leaders who will help drive the user adoption Define how to measure whether the desired outcome was achieved Measure the success of the prescribed outcome, report the results, and use the results to pivot or celebrate If you are undergoing an ERP implementation and have not considered the people factor or recognize the need for a formal change management approach, this can create an obstacle to the overall adoption of the change. 2. Time, Business Continuity, and Company Growth ERP implementations generally mean the organization is going through a business transformation and not merely a technology change. Business transformations are big, lengthy undertakings–a journey if you will… For that reason, time is a challenge. Often, requirements that were evaluated when the project started, change. This is because work in the business goes on; business changes and the demands that customers are placing on the organization change. As the organization undergoing the transformation grows—or has to deal with unforeseen setbacks—the scope and level of priority given to the project can be drastically altered. Planning for this at the beginning by including robust change management and learning strategies can ensure the project is adaptable, end-users and leaders stay firmly committed to the goals of the transformation and these non-project business changes are handled with knowledge and planning instead of reaction. 3. Change in Key Stakeholders Stakeholder engagement is an important part of a successful project. Changes in key stakeholders or a project sponsor mid-project can have a significant impact on the initiative as these are the main decision-makers who ultimately need to be the champions of the change. New leaders coming into a project may have different priorities or may need to be brought up-to-speed on the project and their role as a change leader Changes to Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) can impact the development of learning content, training delivery and even functional development of the system Changes to other change champions or system super users can degrade the project continuity all making stakeholder management extremely complicated and very important Having a thorough and dynamic stakeholder register is critical. It should be owned either by the project manager or the change manager and needs to be constantly reviewed and updated. It can be a lot of work to compile initially but makes managing changes in stakeholders and communicating to the right stakeholders a lot easier. Time spent up-front to create the list saves a lot of time, confusion, and sometimes embarrassment in the long run and having a change management and learning team on the project will help manage these different stakeholder groups and the changes that happen. 4. End-User’s Current Knowledge Base To design effective ERP learning programs, a full training assessment needs to be completed including the end-user’s current knowledge base and technical capabilities. Understanding what they know and how they learn means you will be able to support their learning and provide them with the best learning outcome. Assessing for different levels of knowledge and ability among end-users and encountering gaps between what they know and what they need to know can be daunting. However, using an organizational change management approach that looks at the change holistically from the people-side can help ensure your learning program is successful. 5. Communication Communication is an important component on any project, but it is not just merely sending emails to people via mass distribution lists. A project actually cannot over communicate as long as the messaging is thoughtful and planned. Often communications are also seen as a stand-alone function that can be brought in when “required”. This is a mistake. Communication needs to happen regularly, needs to be strategic and the person with the overall responsibility for deploying communications should be immersed in the project. Many ERP projects these days involve multiple locations with project team members working in different time zones, and sometimes from different cultures. Even with the introduction of collaboration tools and other technologies that help support a globally-dispersed workforce, communication on a project can still be challenging. This is a critical success factor so should be planned and costed as part of the whole change management approach and be included in the project from the beginning through to a few months post go-live. Project team communication: This is often placed directly on the shoulders of the Project Manager to handle. While they are the right person to coordinate and drive the communications within the project team, engaging a communications partner from the Change Management team or from within the organization is going to bring value to the process and the quality of the communications. This person should be embedded in the project; someone who understands the key messaging that is going to the end-user and stakeholder community and can make the connections with the project team, so everyone is on the same page. An important and often overlooked project team communication process is that between the technical development or functional teams and the training development team. The technical development and functional teams are always busy. But they are the holders of the information required by the training team to create the best learning content possible. While the instructional designers are used to being multi-disciplinary workers who not only develop the training materials but are also unofficial testers of the system, business analysts and in some cases functional systems consultants, having a direct and planned communication process with the development and functional teams, and the Business SMEs is critical to ensuring the learning content is meaningful for the user and that it will work in the system during training delivery. Stakeholder Communication: This can be branched out into various veins: Project Sponsor(s) Steering Committee or Executive Committee Primary Stakeholders Secondary Stakeholders A proper communication strategy should be created by the Change Management Lead and the key messages agreed on and planned ahead of time. This will ensure the right communications go to the right people at the right time. Sometimes ad-hoc or emergency communications are required but by planning the bulk of the communications and the mediums for communicating means theses ad-hoc communications can be handled in a calm and knowledgeable way. Communication should be constantly happening within the project team, between the stakeholders and the project, to the end-user community and business and sometimes even with customers. A failure to provide the right communications to the right people at the right time can lead to confusion, frustration, rumours, loss of interest and possibly delays in the project itself. Conclusion ERP initiatives or other business transformations ultimately require individuals to do their jobs differently; the likelihood of success increases with effective change management. According to reports by Gartner, 75 percent of ERP projects fail. Research compiled by PROSCI, suggests projects with structured, planned, and well-funded Change Management met or exceeded objectives 95% of the time, while projects with poor change management met or exceeded 15% of the time. Additionally, studies show that strong change management practices lead to higher percentage of projects that are on budget and on time. These rates of failure or success of your ERP initiative does not have to be elusive. It is directly attributed to the stakeholders. If you want to assure you are getting the most out of the investment, make sure you consider, properly fund and include an experienced team to support the people change factor for your project.

Over the years, blended learning programs have become increasingly prevalent within the corporate world. More businesses are starting to realize the importance of combining the human interaction that accompanies instructor-led training with the efficiency and consistency of e-learning. But how do you find the right blend for your corporate learning program? By using a structured learning approach, you can develop an effective blended learning program once you understand the skill that needs to be developed as well as the needs of the learner. To truly account for both of those considerations, there are three factors that need to be evaluated when determining the correct blend: 1. Frequency of Function When designing a blended learning program, it’s important to take into account the frequency of the task that is being learned. You must ask: is this an activity that a user is doing multiple times a day? Multiple times a week? Once a month? If someone is answering phones many times a day, that’s a much different situation than an accountant that must do a tax adjustment only once or twice a year. Incorporating considerations around frequency of function into your blended learning program means you can weigh the high retention rates of hands-on training against the easy accessibility of e-learning to create an effective blend. 2. Complexity of Task Some tasks just simply need a lot of explanation due to their complexity. For example, you wouldn’t want to use e-learning to teach a surgeon how to perform a specific type of operation—it’s a task that is highly complex. On the other hand, for someone learning how to use a scheduling tool or entering data into a spreadsheet program, that is an activity that is well suited to digital learning as a whole. Considering complexity of task can determine whether your blended learning program uses more of one type of training over the other. 3. Learning Culture of Organization The last necessary dimension is thoroughly understanding the learning culture of the organization. Too many times, organizations turn to e-learning (which is hosted and tracked via an LMS) because they think it’ll solve all their learning needs. However, this notion is flawed. Take a group of HVAC technicians. These are workers who do hands-on work with greasy equipment in places like people’s attics. They don’t have a desk. They don’t have a computer workstation or laptop; instead, they have a tablet, such as an iPad. And many have never had to take an e-learning course before. The biggest mistake companies can make is ignoring the environment and culture that employees have been learning in historically. As soon as we interject e-learning into an organization that hasn’t had any exposure to it in the past, or where it exists but has poor uptake, we are now transforming multiple aspects of the business. For instance, using e-learning in an ERP implementation means you’re not just teaching the employees how to use the new system and probably new processes; you’re also teaching them how to use an LMS and how to be self-directed learners. For some, these are skills that are unfamiliar and, therefore, become layered on top of the new skills specifically required for the ERP. Instead of just one change, there are several. By considering the past and current learning culture of the organization, you can determine the correct level of instructor-led training versus digital learning to develop the most effective blend. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Gregory Roth for his expertise in developing this article.

Colin Carmona-Murphy is a financial analyst and associate consultant with Harbinger SCR. Colin works both internally, dealing with the financial aspects of Harbinger, as well as externally, on the consultant side, as a learning and change management consultant. What is your favourite part about being a consultant? I like the constant change that’s always going on. Every day is different. There’s always new situations and problems that pop up. I also like the small tight-knit vibe of Harbinger. What do you find most fulfilling? Just solving problems, really. Especially when supporting end-users adapt to and adopt the new system or processes. What got you into financial analysis? What aspects of financial analysis do you find most fascinating? I like numbers, that’s what I went to school for; I studied Organizational Management with a focus on finance. I like how I can derive an answer from numbers and provide meaning to them. What aspects of instructional design and training delivery do you find most fascinating? Training is interesting work; honestly, it wasn’t something I could have seen myself doing several years ago. I didn’t even know that training and OCM as a field really existed. It is fascinating when clients who are unfamiliar with the software can figure out the problem with my help. It is interesting, in fact, how much work goes on in the background in terms of knowing the processes and what is going on within the system. Being able to compress all that information so that it becomes digestible for the end-user takes a lot of work. Did you work at a bigger organization prior to working with Harbinger? How does working with a smaller consulting firm like Harbinger differ? I did work for a bigger company before. Working with Harbinger is just a lot better because you have access to everyone compared to the major hierarchies at big companies that prevent direct communication.

Lorena Klingel is a learning expert who has been working in corporate learning for over 20 years. Lorena recently founded a digital training solutions organization, Learn to Flourish. For more information, visit www.learntoflourish.com. This article is the second installment in a two-part series discussing learning with Lorena. How would you say adults learn differently from other groups of people, such as youth? Typically, adult learning can be more voluntary which allows the adult learner to feel like they’re in control of their learning. Adults’ brains are full of information, their own stories, their own experiences. So, it’s essential that a learning experience allows them to connect the dots in their brain between what they already know and what they’re trying to learn. Adults prefer to understand why they are learning something and what the benefits are to them. They also learn best when they can feel an emotional connection to the content. And, finally, adults are usually very busy and distracted so they appreciate flexibility in a learning approach. What are some of the current trends in adult learning? One of the ongoing trends is, of course, e-learning. Mobile learning is becoming very important for people on the go as it allows them to do their learning anytime and anywhere. Also, the term microlearning is becoming more popular. Other trends are game-based learning, educational videos, and learning that is done through high-end technology such as virtual reality and augmented reality. What is microlearning? Essentially, microlearning is learning in very small bites. At its core, microlearning is a learning activity that is focused on a single learning objective. How long has microlearning been around for? The idea of microlearning has been around for many years. Microlearning started becoming more popular with the growth of the internet, 24-hour television, and mobile phones. With the boom in social media, the idea of microlearning has become even more popular. We are constantly receiving information through digital social media channels, and content and ideas are delivered as small nuggets of information. In workplace learning, we have recognized the value of this learning preference. Good learning programs are using microlearning techniques to effectively support their learners. Would you say microlearning is more or less relevant than in the past? It is becoming more relevant and more popular because, today, people are very busy and very technology-driven. Since everybody has mobile devices now, with constant access to online content, microlearning provides learners with the flexibility to learn anytime and anywhere. Should learning be gamified and, if so, when is it most effective to gamify it? Gamification is definitely something that is being used in today’s e-learning. Games help you acquire new knowledge and skills but are also very engaging. People like things that are engaging! Learning shouldn’t be gamified simply for entertainment purposes though. It’s great to engage people but gamification does create another level of complexity and, therefore, needs to serve a purpose if being used. If the game provides the learner with an opportunity to apply and practice the learning content, then that is a good reason to include gamification. What is the future of learning programs? Technology-driven solutions are becoming more popular. If you’re in charge of a learning strategy for your organization, you need to be prepared to embrace the technology because, today, people want to learn online. They want to learn using videos. You need to be prepared to combine these approaches yet still offer opportunities for community and mentorship. For the first part of this series discussing learning with Lorena, check out the article below: A Chat with Learning Expert Lorena Klingel Pt. 1: All About E-Learning

Aryn Smith-Avendano is a training lead subcontracted through Harbinger. Aryn’s work includes designing/implementing effective training plans, guiding instructional designers on creating training material, and leading its deployment. What do you find most fulfilling about being a consultant? I like doing project work. Project work provides the opportunity for growth, both personal and professional. I find it fulfilling to go into a client’s site and help them resolve an issue that best serves their needs. My projects are usually system implementations which I enjoy as they are tangible—something where people can see the work. What would you say are the main values you hope to bring to your consulting approach? I bring confidence to the client by assuring them that, together, we will get the best possible results. Honesty and integrity are important to me. I really like to honor those values at my client sites. What is the most rewarding experience or situation you’ve encountered in this job? It is rewarding to meet a client, get to know them and then work together to achieve a common goal. Not only is achieving the final goal professionally rewarding, but often the growth experienced with each client is also personally rewarding. Additionally, it is very fulfilling working, supporting, and pushing forward with the Harbinger team and share in the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a project. What is your favourite part about working with Harbinger? Harbinger is the first firm that I’ve worked with which knows what it is that I bring to a client. Because they are an OCM centric firm, I can say, “I am this,” and they go, “Oh, okay! We know which jobs that are available where we can best utilize your skills.” What got you into instructional design? It was a bit of a fluke! I was living overseas and applied for a trainer position at a global retail bank, got the position; the rest is history. Previous to that, I was in the retail banking industry, working my way through school. What aspects of instructional design/learning do you find most fascinating? Just putting it all together and figuring out the puzzle. Looking at all the pieces that need to go into something to make it successful, whether that be a strategic plan, a training plan, or instructional design document. What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced around training delivery and how did you overcome it? One of the biggest challenges is the perception of what training alone can do. It is a common belief that a system is created and once everyone is trained, the previous issues disappear and all will be well in the world. Effective training delivery and learning development is a critical part of the solution but works hand-in-hand with OCM and communications to provide a complete picture, thus increasing the positive learning outcomes. When one doesn’t have that trifecta for implementation, it is very challenging to achieve successful learning outcomes. Training will be delivered, but will it maximize every opportunity to achieve successful learning outcomes? Most likely not. Luckily, training inherently incorporates some change management and communication techniques, so when the perfect trifecta is not available, I look to incorporate as much change management and communications within the training as possible, to secure successful learning outcomes. Do you have any advice for consultants starting out? Specifically, within learning development, take any opportunity you can or are offered and be proactive. Particularly, in consulting, because you generally have a short timeframe, you really need to take the initiative and be proactive to get things done. Take the opportunities offered, regardless of if they don’t exactly fit what you want, to get the breadth of experience, so you understand how all the big pieces work together, then hone down a specific area you want to focus on. Is there anything that surprised you about what it’s like to be a consultant? I really like the lifestyle choice. It is a bit of a different type of an adrenaline rush: you get both the extreme highs and lows but with being 100% committed to a project, it makes for a very fun ride.

Why is the people-side of change so important to ERP implementations? Too often, organizations see failure with their ERP projects because they don’t understand that change begins with each employee within the organization individually changing how they conduct business and complete their responsibilities. Change does not need to be difficult if it is well planned, and impacted people are well prepared. To have a successful implementation, it is important to see the transformation from the perspective of the business end-users and be aware of the three biggest challenges they will encounter. 1. Understanding Go-Live Isn’t the End Go-live isn’t the end. Unfortunately, that fact is difficult for many organizations to grasp. There’s a natural human belief that our achievements are tied to a date. In other words, if we can just get to that day, we are going to be okay. But, practically speaking, go-live is the beginning of the hardest part of any ERP implementation. Applying the newly learned skills and realizing where the gaps in knowledge and misunderstandings lie can be substantial. Going live itself is easy—thriving in the 90 (or more) days that follows is the real challenge. 2. Integrating Business Processes One of the biggest challenges is that end-users see the ERP implementation as just a system change. Due to the highly integrated nature of an ERP, it is also a business transformation. Many of the business processes will drastically change as a result of the implementation. For many tasks, employees can’t simply complete them as per usual—they now must understand all the steps that came before. It’s a whole breadth of knowledge that these end-users now require. 3. Integrating People With ERPs, not only are the systems now highly integrated, but people are as well. One fact is true about higher levels of integration: if you have a mistake, you must fix it where the mistake was made. What does this practically mean? For example, in a non-ERP based world, if you have a mistake made by a customer service team and the accounting team finds that mistake, because the systems aren’t integrated, they can just fix the problem in the accounting system. With ERPs, however, because data flows between teams and there must be integrity in the information from beginning to end, it can’t just be fixed on the accounting side. They must go back to customer service team and ask that they make the correction with the initial customer document. Why is this a challenge? Departments that were once working in isolation now must grasp that they can’t easily fix each other’s errors. It creates a brand-new dynamic. These changes are unnatural to their normal ways of work. Luckily, well-designed learning programs don’t just train end-users on the new system; they also train them on new ways of communicating, relying on each other, and resolving conflicts. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Gregory Roth and Aryn Smith-Avendano for their expertise in developing this article.

Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERPs) is one of the biggest business and technology transformations companies will experience. However, ERP implementations are notoriously complicated and expensive, making many companies hesitant to take the giant leap towards the increased integration and efficiency ERPs would bring to their organization. Considering a long history of implementation failures, how do you ensure yours achieves success? Luckily, the use of structured, professional learning programs has shown to be a tried and true method for carrying your ERP implementation from beginning to end and beyond. What makes structured, professional learning programs so effective? While there are many reasons, three core aspects of ERPs make learning programs necessary for true, long-term success: 1. Integration & Impact Due to the highly integrated nature of ERPs, it is crucial to recognize the impact it will have on the entire enterprise. Without a structured learning program developed and deployed by experienced Change Management and Learning experts, it’s extremely difficult to confirm the full enterprise has been considered. With a structured program, you can ensure the training supports the entirety of the integration and provides the correct messaging and training as consistently as possible across the organization. Why does this matter? Well, for one, having consistent training means you have one less thing for end-users to adjust to. It’s the easily-overlooked details like these that a seasoned Change Management and Learning consulting firm will focus on to make sure your learning program is a success. 2. Complexity & Expertise ERPs are decidedly vast and complex. The truth is most organizations do not have the expertise or the resources to deploy a holistic change and learning program for their ERP implementation on their own. They may have resources that have some degree of speciality in training delivery and development. However, usually this training delivery experience centres around soft-skills learning or compliance-related learning events, such as employee health and safety (EHS) training or business conduct guidelines training. Practically speaking, few organizations have dedicated resources that understand how to develop IT-focused learning events, which are dramatically different than the aforementioned soft-skills training. Here, Change Management and Learning consultants with experience in ERP projects can develop and deliver learning programs to ensure the people of your organization can adjust and adapt to the enterprise-wide change. 3. Self-Sufficiency & Future Growth A well-designed structured learning program not only meets the short-term needs around the ERP go-live, but also delivers long-term benefits. It builds a community of business practitioners who, by the time the implementation is wrapped up, appreciate that they have a different way of working. By partnering with individuals within the business, Change Management and Learning experts help employees develop an understanding of how to document a solution and how to educate, inform, and inspire someone to learn a new skill. A good learning program can teach them how to support each other as the business evolves, grows, and adapts well beyond go-live. The learning solution—which is not just made up of the training curriculum and associated materials, but also the training environments, governance, roles, and resources required to manage and administer the solution—should be considered part of the overall ERP asset. It is the focus on achieving self-sufficiency that truly sets good learning programs apart from the bad ones. Well-designed learning programs aim to ultimately lead the business towards self-sufficiency, so they can stand on their own two feet and maintain their learning solution going forward. Unfortunately, what is true is that this isn’t necessarily the end goal for big consulting firms. In many engagements, they have a wide breadth of responsibility and often don’t or can’t focus on the people that are impacted by the new technology or processes. Smaller specialized firms, however, can concentrate their focus and attention on delivering robust learning programs and change support that produces self-sufficiency and competency usually at a fraction of the cost of the bigger firms. Good Change Management and Learning consultants believe that their departure from your organization should be tied to your readiness, meaning that you have achieved your expectations and that you can be self-sufficient beyond go-live. They recognize that their own success is tied to your organization’s satisfaction and that the sooner you reach your goal, the happier everyone will be. So Why Use a Learning Program? Ask yourself why your organization is implementing an ERP: your implementation program exists because there is a future vision of what your business is trying to achieve through efficiency and increased revenue. A well-designed learning program can enable that as it accounts for the highly integrated and complex nature of ERPs while building internal capacity within the organization for future growth. Without these considerations, it’s easy to put the project at risk. Even if you can get through go-live, it’s easy to lose the benefit of the ERP. It’s true that good learning programs require a great deal of time, energy, and funding to develop, but the cost of not doing it properly can be much more substantial. So why not actually make sure your ERP is an asset that can be leveraged for years to come by investing in learning programs that build organizational readiness, behaviour change, and self-sufficiency? The biggest mistake businesses can make with ERP implementations is assuming it’s merely a technology change and deploying with the mindset that it was only the best they could do with the resources they had on hand. Investing in a structured, professional learning program, you can be assured that, you will realize the benefits that the project was designed to achieve. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Gregory Roth, Aryn Smith-Avendano, and Barnaby Chan for their expertise in developing this article.

Lorena Klingel is a learning expert who has been working in corporate learning for over 20 years. Lorena recently founded a digital training solutions organization, Learn to Flourish. For more information, visit www.learntoflourish.com. This article is the first installment in a two-part series discussing learning with Lorena. What does Learn to Flourish do? Innovative and growing businesses hire us to create digital training solutions for their organizations. We have an amazing team of experts in instructional design, audio, video, multimedia, graphic design and project management so that we can bring a full solution and a team approach to our projects. What is e-learning? Could you give a few examples of e-learning? E-learning is any learning that is delivered electronically. It could be online courses, videos, e-books, educational websites, and even podcasts. When did e-learning emerge as a popular form of learning and how did it help revolutionize how people learn? The use of technology in learning has been around for a very long time. My first experience with e-learning was in the 90s on an SAP implementation. On this project, we were publishing help documentation on the client’s intranet site. These were step-by-step reference guides. At the time, this blew everybody away that you could have reference documentation online. Since then, e-learning has evolved so much. In today’s world, we’re all online and we expect our learning to be available digitally. What are the differences between instructor-led training and e-learning? Instructor-led training is an effective strategy for smaller groups of learners and, especially, if they’re present at a single location. It’s great for audiences that aren’t comfortable with the use of technology and for content and audiences that require a highly personal touch. Many people consider it a work benefit to be able to leave their desks and go away for in-person training programs so it’s a great way to get focused time and attention on learning. It also provides the ability to socialize and interact with others while learning something new at the same time.  However, it is very expensive for organizations with the costs associated with travel, possibly setting up training classrooms, and, most importantly, having their employees away from their work. On the other hand, e-learning is the best option when there are a lot of people who need training and they are geographically dispersed. E-learning is a flexible solution that allows people to access the information they need anywhere, anytime. If it’s designed well, it allows the learner to control their own learning path and engages all the different types of learners, whether visual, audio, or kinesthetic. It’s a great solution for busy people living in a world of technology. How do you design effective learning programs? There are some things that you need to keep in mind no matter what type of learning program you are developing. Training needs to be relevant to the learner. People learn best when they need the information or skill. They learn best when information is presented in small chunks. And they learn very well when they can apply what they’re learning—when they can have action and then apply the information and skills immediately in a realistic way. They also learn better when they can experience an emotional connection to the content. These key concepts should be used whether you’re designing learning for online or a classroom. Overall, the most important thing is to know your audience, what their needs are, and their preferences. Personally, I believe that all organizations should use a blended approach in their overall strategy. Blended learning solutions usually combine the approaches of classroom training, e-learning, and support. E-learning can be a huge cost-saving opportunity for an organization and it can be used to accelerate the distribution of knowledge. But human beings need interaction. They need community and mentorship in order to learn and grow and thrive. Therefore, high performing organizations use solutions that blend all of these different components.

Creating a great learning experience for busy adults in the workplace can be challenging. This is especially true when there is a high degree of change for all employees that is more than technology-based; with new system capability resulting in changes to business process, role definitions, and most significantly, expectations for a superior customer interaction or product commercialization. Good learning programs facilitate behavioural change Developing learning that drives the desired behavioural change takes planning and knowledge of not only adult learning and people change principles but also understanding the organization, its goals, and its people. To appreciate the biggest challenges for end users and stakeholders, start with understanding the overall challenge for the organization – this means discerning and aligning around the specific outcomes and objectives of the implementation. In order to be successful, organizations need to understand clearly what they are trying to achieve and how they will measure it. From there, understand the tools required, and how best to transform the organization to achieve the desired goals. No matter what the learning program is for, there is one thing that should always be kept in mind – Training needs to be relevant to the learner Adults learn best when there is a need for the information or skill and will learn this new information best when it is presented in small portions. Adults get even more out of the learning experience when they can apply what they have learned through action and then apply the information and skills immediately in a realistic way. Creating an emotional connection to the content will further encourage learning. All these factors should be considered when planning and developing the learning content. The benefits described above can only be achieved if the right policies, processes, people, skills and tools are put in place to support the initiative. If this is clearly understood, then it will be apparent that a considerable challenge for end users and stakeholders is being ready in terms of time in their already busy schedules to make the change, in developing and buying into the goals of the change, then developing the requisite capabilities to deliver what they need to in the future state. When planning a learning program for a MS Dynamics or any other ERP implementation, you should start with the end in mind This is why a robust and strategic change management approach is crucial to the planning of the learning program and the overall success of the transformation. Learning is the key to achieving the desired behavioural change and should be present in many forms such as classroom or self-directed learning but there must also be interaction, community, and mentorship in order to learn, grow and thrive. It is a high performing organization that ensures they are planning effective learning by supporting the whole change that their employees are experiencing.